Scheduling App
The Scheduling App is an app built in Microsoft Power Apps for branches to schedule staff. It includes Biweekly schedules, Dailies, Branch Calendar, All Branches Schedules, and a screen for staff to see their own schedule. Questions and problems with the app should be directed to the Library Internet Services Team.
A video training for managers can be viewed by clicking here.
The app is intended to be used primarily on a desktop or laptop computer through a browser or Teams, or a tablet through the mobile Power App. The My Schedule screen may be viewed on a smart phone by staff to view their schedule from home.
The app opens on a main screen where a user may select from five options, My Schedule, Branch Calendar, Daily, Biweeklies, and All Branch Schedules.
The main screen also displays Branch Events for programs and events with no assigned staff, and Daily Notes. A summary of Staff Scheduled is available in the table on the right.
On the left, default Branch will be displayed. This is based on a match between the staff being on the staff list of a branch and the office location in their Office 365 profile. Is this does not match staff will be unable to view schedules. At the bottom of this screen under Your current location in Office365 is Administration is a link for staff to change their office location if it doesn't match the branch they are located at.
Contents
- My Schedule
- Branch Calendar
- Daily
- Biweekly
- Managing Access
- All Branch Schedules
- Search Schedules
- Navigating
My Schedule
In My Schedule a user may view their schedule. It will display a gallery of items for the selected Pay Period. As a user scrolls they will see their shift schedule, their daily for the day, and any events in the Branch Calendar. Near the top will be a list of hours for the Pay Period. A user may select the Pay Period drop down to view a different Pay Period. A user may select the previous PP, current PP, and next two PPs.
Branch Calendar
In Branch Calendar staff may enter approved meetings, programs, and training. For leave, staff should make a leave request. To view events for the day, select the date. To view details or to edit an event select the event from the right-side menu. To create an event, select the + from the date.
Leave cannot be edited once approved. If changes need to be made to leave, approved leave should be deleted by a manager and leave resubmitted by staff.
The Branch Calendar also displays System Calendar events. Staff may select a System Calendar event to create an event for the Branch Calendar and enter their name.
Staff may also make a leave request from Branch Calendar by selecting Leave Request (airplane icon). This will email the user and their supervisor.
An event may also be copied. First select an event from the right-side menu. When it opens, click on the copy icon. Enter a new staff members name (default will be user).
A new or existing event may have additional events added to it. Select Click to Add Additional Dates. Select a date from the date selector and then click Add Date. This will add dates to the date list. You may delete an added date by selecting the trash can icon next to the date. When you select the save icon the dates will be added to the event.
An event may also be added to your Outlook Calendar. Select the checkbox for Add to My Outlook.
Managers and Daily Schedulers may create a multi-staff event by selecting the multi-staff icon in the upper right. When creating multi-staff event, users may select from departments and subdepartments or select staff individually. Users also have the option to send an Outlook invite to staff.
Daily
The Daily will display only staff scheduled for that day. Only staff designated as Daily Schedulers can edit the daily. It defaults to current day but a new day can be selected, up to 28 days into the future. You may view staff's events by clicking on the calendar icon next to their name. If there is no icon, they do not have an event scheduled for that day.
Daily notes will display on the footer of the daily. Only Daily Schedulers may add a new note.
Clicking the print icon will display a print menu to print either the departments daily or the full daily. All three departments can print the Daily screen. There are options for Landscape and Profile. Full daily print includes both Information and Circulation departments. It will also display Pages and volunteers if there is room. Margins and Scale may need to be adjusted from the Print dialog box if printing doesn't produce desired results.
To edit the Dailies, select the pencil icon. This will turn on edit mode. There are two ways to create new Dailies. If no dailies have been created for a day, select Create Dailies. This will create dailies for all staff for that day and include any events from the branch calendar. To add a new Daily for specific staff, click the text No Daily Tasks Scheduled. Click 'Create Dailies' or click here to create a single daily.
After the daily is created you may edit all the staff's dailies. Once you are finished, select the save icon. It is recommended that only one staff person edit the daily at a time.
If the event in the Branch Calendar is edited or deleted the Daily will need to be manually updated, however the calendar icon will accurately reflect all events listed for that day for a specific staff member.
Biweekly
The Biweekly will default to current Pay Period. By default and per HR policy, staff can select the previous, current, and next two pay periods and any pay period whose Staff Can View status is set to on. Scheduling managers may select any pay period. Only scheduling managers have permissions to edit shifts. Staff may add and view events. Hovering over an event will reveal a tooltip with the title of the event.
Draft Status
This status is only viewable by managers and is only for managers to be aware of the status of a pay period. It does not effect what staff can view.
Next to a staff's name the top row are the shifts and the second row are events from the Branch Calendar.
Scheduling
Managers may manage a staff or position by selecting the three dots in the staff card. From here managers may edit position, add a shift, add an event, change a range of shifts to leave, or load that staff's preferred schedule.
Managers may edit a shift by selecting the shift. This opens a quick edit pop up. Managers may use the Shift Selector to select a common shift instead of selecting times. If a manager needs more options or would like to copy the shift they will need to select Full Edit.
When entering all day leave for an 8 hour shift it is important to enter for 8.5 hours, ie: 9:30-6. The app automatically subtracts 30 minutes from anything over 8 hours.
Notes can be added to shifts and are indicated by a post-it note icon. By hovering over the post-it icon a tool tip will reveal the note. Staff may view their own notes from My Schedule.
If a day is a holiday, an icon will appear on that day. If selected it will convert all shifts for that into holiday hours.
Loading Shifts
Managers can create a Preferred Schedule Template by selecting Preferred Shifts folder icon. This screen looks and behaves similarly to the Biweekly. Once managers have a preferred schedule, they can load an entire pay period of shifts by selecting the Load Pref Shifts folder icon with up arrow from the Biweekly. This icon only displays if the entire PP is void of shifts. If the PP has shifts the icon will be a trash can. Managers may select the trash can to delete the entire PP.
The staff card will display staff name, position number, and total hours for PP, first week in PP and second week in PP. The total hours for the PP will be highlighted yellow if the hours are below the staff's needed hours, and red if they are above. If the position is vacant, it will say Vacant
Events on the Biweekly behave similarly to events in the Branch Calendar.
Managers may create events for all staff in a department by selecting Multi Staff Event.
Managing Staff
Staff are listed in the Biweekly. Managers may manage a position by selecting the three dots in the staff card and selecting the person icon.
Creating a Position
To create a new position select the Person Plus icon from the Biweekly screen.
Enter all relevant information. For the Position Number anything can be entered here, but it MUST be unique for your branch. For permanent positions enter the Position Number of the position. This can be found in FOCUS or the branch organizational chart. For job shares in the same branch, enter a designator, for example: 1234-1; 1234-2. For guest staff enter something descriptive like PH Guest Staff-1. This must also be unique.
A position does not need a staff name. You may enter a staff name later. You may start adding shifts and template schedules for a vacant position.
Vacant Positions
If a staff member leaves managers have two options.
The first, if the manager would like to preserve the preferred schedule and future biweekly and daily shifts, they can select the pencil icon on the Staff information page. Delete the name in the Staff field and then select the Save icon. All shifts and dailies will have the staff person removed.
While the position is vacant managers may schedule biweekly shifts and dailies, and set up a preferred schedule for the position.
When the branch hires a new staff member, edit the position and enter their name in the Staff field and select save. Shifts and dailies will be transferred to the new staff person.
If the manager doesn't want to keep everything or only keep select items then they can delete them from the Staff's information page. Select the hamburger menu next to Manage Staff items. Delete or transfer the items you want. Items can only be transferred to a different staff person and only someone on your staff list.
If you are deleting a position, all preferred shifts and future biweekly and daily shifts must be deleted first.
Visiting staff may also be temporarily added and deleted from this list to add them to the schedule. Anything can be put in the position number, such as Guest Staff. Remember that Position Number must be unique.
Volunteers may also be added to your staff list in this way. You give their Position Number something like Volunteer-John Doe. They will appear in the Biweekly and Daily. In this way, regular volunteers can be given schedules. Please note that managing volunteers in this way makes them part of the main staff list.
Managing OT Staff
To manage OT create a vacant position in your staff list and call it something like Info OT
Once you have added the vacant OT position, you can give this position OT shifts and schedule Dailies.
When branch staff claim the OT from the coverage app, all you need to do is add their name to the Shift.
Managing Access of Staff
Access to all Power Applications is managed through distribution lists. Please contact your branch coordinator to add new staff to your branch's distribution lists. After staff are added it may take several hours for permissions to propagate.
Managers must be added to ALL relevant management distribution lists in order for them to gain manager permissions in the app.
All Branch Schedules
This is a Power Bi report that allows all library staff to view the schedules of branch staff. It only list shifts worked in the branches and excludes leave to preserve privacy.
Past schedules can be viewed by clicking one of two Historical Schedules tabs. One is a reverse chronological order of past schedules. The other has a Biweekly View of the schedules. Both of these can be filtered by Pay Period.
Search Schedules
All Library staff have the ability to search schedules to find specific staff's schedules. For non-branch staff the Scheduling App will default to this screen. A user may filter by branch and department or may search for staff. Multiple staff may be selected.
Navigating
The Biweekly, Daily, Branch Calendar, and All Branch Schedules have a drop down for easy navigation between screens and departments.
